Banking on the Future

In a small town in a remote province of China, a man on the verge of retirement has come up with quite an intereting idea. He has created the concept of "Age Banks". China is going to see a senior boom greater than that of the United States with one third of their population being over the age of 60 in the next forty years. Age Banks are designed with caregiving in mind. A volunteer can go into an Age Bank and spend time with an elderly member of the population who may not have family or loved ones to assist them. The hours that they spend volunteering is recorded and placed into their "bank" to be used on care towards themselves when they are the ones needing the assistance. Their work done shopping, cleaning, obtaining medicines, etc. is logged into a personal data base and will conceptually assist them at a later date. Would a program like this work in the United States? Would our society of what's in it for me volunteer time to the elderly if we didn't see an immediate return? It may be a question that we need to ask ourselves if this concept catches on.

Good news for Seniors in the Stimulus Plan

There is potential good news for the elderly population included in the $900 billion stimulus package that President Obama has taken to the Senate. Should the package pass without change, seniors who receive Social Security benefits would receive a $300 payment from the government. A $300 check would also be sent to those covered under the Supplemental Security Income program for elderly and disabled people living in poverty. These checks are a one time only payment but any little bit can help seniors and their caregivers in today's economy.

Seniors and the Internet

I read an article today that stated that only 7% of the population 65 years and older utilize the internet daily. This number is going to change in the next decade as the baby boomers will move into this demographic. It is expected that 35% of "seniors" will be utilizing the web but this will be the equivalent of 65% of teens due to the larger amount of elderly in the nation's population. Fenway Medical has designed our site keeping this demographic change in mind. We feature products that many will need to utilize for loved ones or themselves. We have also installed a font changing tool on our site and hope in the near future to develop a virtual shopping cart to ease each transaction. Visit us often at www.fenwaymedical.com to watch how we change as our population changes.